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Indiana Completes Work On "Carp Fence"

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With little fanfare, Indiana's Department of Natural Resources has finished work on a nearly one quarter mile-long chain-link fence designed to keep Asian carp from swimming into the Great Lakes in the event of a flood.

The eight-foot tall fence is held together by 123 posts and 120 concrete barriers. It was constructed in the Eagle Marsh near Fort Wayne. Officials hope the barrier will keep Asian carp from finding their way into Lake Erie, miles to the east, should the Wabash River system flood and spill into the Maumee River at Toledo.

Scientists fear the invasive fish could gobble up plankton on the floor of the Great Lakes, putting the region's multi-billion dollar sport fishing industry in peril.

Indiana authorities say the project cost less than the 200 thousand dollars budgeted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

(Copyright 2010 WWJ Newsradio 950. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press Contributed To This Story

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